


A Different Kind of Love

by TheatrePhantom



Series: Human Zim [6]
Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Aromantic, Aromantic Character, Aromantic Zim, Coming Out, Friendship, Gen, Genderfluid, Genderfluid Character, Genderfluid Zim, Human, Human Zim (Invader Zim), Self-Discovery, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:29:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28035450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheatrePhantom/pseuds/TheatrePhantom
Summary: Zim had never truly felt love the way that most people say he should.
Relationships: Dib & Zim (Invader Zim)
Series: Human Zim [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1855570
Comments: 12
Kudos: 18





	A Different Kind of Love

Zim, like most other children his age, had moments where he was absolutely certain that he was different from everyone else that he knew, and, to be honest, there wasn’t much anyone could say that would convince him. Statistically speaking, most people didn’t have two dads, most people weren’t best friends with the same person who they did everything in their power to sabotage, and, most importantly, most people couldn’t say that they had accidentally killed their mother at a young age. 

No, there were a lot of things that set Zim apart from the majority of his peers. There were many reminders to him on a daily basis that he was different from those around him. 

One thing that stood out to him, though, was his experiences with romantic attraction- or, more accurately, his lack thereof. 

It wasn’t as if Zim didn’t  _ understand _ love. He knew that love was, in some way, whatever it was that his fathers felt towards one another. He knew that it was the thing written about in cheesy, schmoopy Y/A novels and spoken about in terrible movies aimed at teenagers. It was the focus of so many of the cheesy poems Zim and their peers had to read and annotate. 

The only thing was, when Zim thought about love, they didn’t think about  _ romance _ . Instead, they thought about other things. He thought about his love for his obnoxious mutt puppy back at home, the familial love for his adoptive fathers, the platonic love he felt for his strange friend-enemy, Dib Membrane, and the love for his passions. All of them were very obviously not romantic, but all of them meant the world to him. Gir was what kept him going, some days, and he never failed to make him smile, no matter how annoying the puppy could be. His fathers had taken him in when no one else would, and, although things had been off to a rocky start, their relationship  _ was _ fairly close and he always worked to make his dads proud of him. Dib was equally as irritating as Gir but understood him on a level most others didn’t and was generally kind to him when he needed it the most. His passions were what drove him and what made his life worth living. 

None of the things that he thought of when the word “love” was brought up fit under the generally accepted definition for “love”, but they were what filled his mind anytime the word was uttered.

He supposed he could understand  _ why _ people would want romantic relationships- the idea of being that close to someone was a beautiful concept to Zim. Having someone that he could share everything with- his life, his interests, his passions- it sounded nice. Having someone who understood him completely and who would never abandon him like so many people had before seemed… wonderful. 

He just didn’t see why his relationship with that person had to be romantic. 

And, more importantly, while he, to an extent, understood the  _ concept _ of romantic love… he wasn’t sure that he had ever genuinely  _ felt _ it, before.

Perhaps Zim was just a late-bloomer. Plenty of people didn’t experience romantic feelings when they were little, and a lot of people didn’t figure things like that out until they were a bit older and had experienced more of their life. Maybe he just hadn’t reached the point in his life where the magical switch that would turn on the flow of sparkling, shimmering romance, yet.

That explanation seemed less and less likely the older he got, however, and he began to wonder if that was really what was going on, or if he would simply never feel the romantic attraction that so many people spoke about. 

That idea seemed absolutely ridiculous, though- how could someone simply  _ not _ experience romantic attraction? It was something that was so ingrained in society that the very concept of not experiencing it  _ ever _ seemed utterly bizarre. It was in every film, book, TV series, song, and video game- even it wasn’t the main focus of the story. Most people got married- or at least  _ dated _ . Everywhere he went, there were constantly people around one another absolutely head over heels in love with one another. Things were always marketed towards couples in some way. No matter where Zim went, romance was there in some form or another- he  _ had _ to experience it eventually, right? 

Perhaps it was something else, then. Maybe he just hadn’t found the right person? Finding the “perfect person” was the plot to  _ numerous _ romance books and movies, so it seemed like a fair enough assumption to make that all he would have o do to experience real love was find the right person. 

That explanation didn’t seem right, either, though. Zim was almost entirely certain that, if he  _ did _ experience romantic attraction, Dib would be the person he would feel it for. It was only logical; they were close friends (even if they  _ were  _ simultaneously enemies) and all of the things that Zim saw as positive about romance and romantic relationships were things he already got from his odd relationship from Dib. When he needed support, Dib would provide it and vice versa. They both pushed one another to succeed and would help one another to do so, in their strange round-about way. They were able to share their interests with one another, and, while they were constantly teasing one another and at each other’s throats, it was clear to both of them that, at this point, it was in a mostly playful manner, and they would never dare to cross the boundaries either one of them had. 

Dib seemed like the perfect romantic pair, so… why wasn’t Zim in love with him? 

Maybe it was something else- maybe he was just too distracted by other things to focus on love? That explanation made perfect sense! Zim had always been driven by other things and was far more invested in his academics and his various passions than he was with pursuing and maintaining any sort of romantic relationship. 

Although, with how much thought he had been putting into romance lately… that explanation didn’t seem correct, either. 

Zim was furious- he  _ hated _ not knowing things- especially when they were important things like this. Being unaware of general things in and of itself was incredibly irritating to him, but not entirely understanding things that not only directly impacted him but were  _ part _ of him? It was infuriating. 

He truly didn’t understand. None of the explanations he could think of for as to  _ why _ he didn’t experience the mythical and elusive romantic attraction either made zero sense in practice or were easily disproven upon further inspection. All things considered, he had no  _ real _ reason to not experience romance. He was old enough for attraction to have kicked in already, he had the perfect person already, and it wasn’t as if he were ignoring it, anymore, so  _ why didn’t he feel it _ ?

According to the internet, one thing that could explain what he was experiencing was  _ aromantic _ . 

At first, it didn’t entirely make sense to him. How could someone  _ possibly _ just not  _ experience _ romantic love? Then again… that was exactly where he was at with his own life, at the moment. 

It was strange and stressful, but, above all of the other emotions he was feeling… the term felt  _ right _ . It explained what he had been feeling for  _ years _ and the experiences he’d had during that time. It showed him through experiences and articles precisely what he had been looking for but that had been just out of reach.

For the first time, Zim found an explanation that made  _ sense _ . 

He was aromantic. 

And… he was okay with that. 

~~~

Slightly more difficult than coming to terms with the fact that Zim was aromantic was the concept of actually  _ telling _ people that he was aromantic. He wasn’t particularly interested in telling the majority of people- he didn’t find it particularly important for people to know, and he didn’t exactly have many people that he cared enough to want to tell- but there were still a few people he  _ did _ want to know. 

His fathers, of course, were people he would want to tell, but he wasn’t sure that he was ready for that yet, and wasn’t entirely sure how to broach the topic, so he planned on waiting a bit longer before bringing it up. 

Dib, however, was another story. 

Zim wanted to come out to Dib. Maybe it was because Dib was the closest friend in his life, at the moment, or maybe it was because Dib had reacted so well to Zim coming out as gender fluid not that long ago. 

Coming out as aromantic, though, seemed like an entirely different thing. Aromanticism wasn’t very well-known and it wasn’t incredibly acceptable in their romance-driven society. It hadn’t been too much of a surprise that Dib was supportive of him being gender-fluid considering the fact that Dib was transgender himself, but he wasn’t entirely sure how he would react to Zim being aromantic- or if he would even know what it was.

Regardless, Zim decided that he would talk to Dib about it the next time the opportunity arose. Dib was his friend, even if their relationship was odd, and he was generally a fairly open-minded person who tended to not judge people (or, rather, tended not to judge people based off of things like  _ that _ \- in other ways, Dib could be  _ incredibly _ judgemental, but typically not about people’s orientations and other similar things). 

It wasn’t long before the opportunity for Zim to discuss things with Dib arose. 

The two of them sat in the withered patch of grass behind the school, yellowed with lack of water and care, as they worked on a project together. The project was something fairly simple for the advanced placement math class the two of them shared during their fourth period of school, and didn’t give either of them much difficulty. The two of them could have likely easily done the entire project separately, completely on their own and still aced it, considering how well the two of them did in that class, but the teacher had insisted upon all of the students getting into pairs to work on it, so they had caved and decided to work together. Zim didn’t mind, considering it gave them the perfect opportunity to ease their workload while also hanging out together. 

Instead of heading back to either of their houses to work on the project, they had decided to just stay in the property surrounding the school, considering how nice it was outside, that day (and the fact that neither of them really wanted to go home just yet), but Zim had more important things to focus on than the pleasant weather of the day. 

Zim set down the pen he had been using a moment ago and instead began fiddling with the green, beaded bracelet that hung around his wrist (the same one Dib had given him not so long ago, and that he wore on his more masculine days). He looked towards Dib, who still had his eyes trained on whatever he had been working on, didn’t notice. 

After a moment of careful consideration, Zim broke the silence, “Dib?”

“Yeah?” Dib hummed, barely bothering to glance up from his own work. 

Zim frowned at Dib’s lack of a response, letting out a quiet huff of air, “There’s something I’d like to tell you.”

“Okay?” Finally, Dib tore his eyes away from what he had been looking at and instead focused on Zim, eyebrows knitting together slightly and tilting his head in curiosity, “What is it?”

“There’s this…  _ thing _ -” Zim attempted weakly, not entirely sure how to phrase what he wanted to tell him. 

Dib just snorted in response, clearly either not noticing or not caring about Zim’s internal conflict over what to say, “ _ Very _ specific- that  _ really _ clears things up.”

Once more, Zim frowned, tossing his friend a glare as he leaned across the small space between the two of them so he could whack Dib with his notebook for his insolence. 

“Ow!” Dib cried out, though, from the way he was laughing, it was clear that the light hit hadn’t actually hurt him in any way (plus, Zim knew Dib well enough to know what he could handle, and knew that this was  _ far _ below his pain threshold), “Okay, okay, go on.”

“It’s kind of difficult to explain, but… I’ve discovered something about myself,” Zim said as he finally decided upon how he would word his feelings, “More specifically, I’ve discovered something about my orientation.”

Dib’s eyebrows raised slightly, though his face remained mostly impassive at that, “Oh, yeah? What did you find out.”

“Recently, I had the realization that I don’t exactly  _ experience _ romantic attraction,” Zim began, gesturing with his hands mindlessly as he spoke, “Most people do, but I never have. I always assumed that it was something that I would eventually get once I was older, but I’ve  _ still _ never been romantically interested in someone after all this time. I’ve put a lot of thought into it and I came up with a lot of theoretical explanations for what might cause it, but none of them quite made sense or fit, except the explanation that I just… don’t experience romantic attraction.”

Dib blinked, “So, like… aromantic?”

Zim blinked owlishly as well, taken aback, “What?” 

“Y’know, aromantic,” Dib shrugged, “That’s pretty much-”

“No, no, I know what aromanticism is,” Zim shook his head, cutting him off, “I just didn’t know that  _ you _ knew what it was.”

“I know you don’t think very highly of my intellect, but I  _ do _ know a thing or two,” Dib rolled his eyes, though there was a joking lilt to his voice, “I do understand though. I mean, I’m not aromantic myself, but I do know what you mean, and it makes sense that you are.”

Zim couldn’t help but smile at that, his shoulders relaxing subconsciously as Dib spoke. He hadn’t noticed that he had tensed up during their conversation.

“Listen,” Dib continued before Zim could say anything, “I know romance and sex and shit are kind of forced down everyone’s throats and a lot of people are assholes about it, but I support you.”

“Good. I’m glad to hear it.”

With that, they fell back into their work and didn’t discuss it beyond that, instead just focusing on their project together, only talking about either what they were working on, or completely inconsequential stuff. The topic of Zim’s romantic orientation didn’t come up again, and it passed without his aromanticism changing anything between them. 

Zim was aromantic, Dib knew, and everything was okay.

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't sure whether or not I would post this, but there is very little aromantic representation and writing this out helped me work through some things, so I decided that I would. :)


End file.
